Day-to-day savings tactics are a good start. Now add these two long-term strategies to help your children save for school and become good money managers.

Raise a smart money manager

Children start to imitate simple actions and facial expressions at around eight months of age, according to the California Department of Education. By 18 months, they’re copying more complicated actions and repeating simple things they remember from the past.

What does this have to do with money? Only that children pick up their parents’ behaviour – and sooner than most people think. So setting a good example will go a long way to helping your children be responsible with money, too.

For Mary Chan, a mother of two, it was all about letting her children directly handle money at a young age – and having fun while they did it. “I’d give them actual change (I’d wash it first),” she says. “I’d let them sort it, count it and try to make $1 using different coins. I even gave them each a certain amount and made them ‘buy’ their toys and snacks for the day. It was hilarious!”

Her experience with granting an allowance was mixed. “My son wanted to start doing chores around the house for a small allowance,” she says. “It was a great way for him to start associating work with money, but it didn’t encourage him to do chores simply to contribute to the family, so we don’t pay him for daily chores anymore, just bigger jobs that require harder work.”

Chad Fraser, June 16, 2017, Long-term money strategies for new dads (and moms) [Web page]. Retrieved from Canada Sun Life Corporate Website read the article.

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